After disappointing pricing on Mac Pro I'm thinking about building a workstation with Mac Mini. I watched some reviews and it seems that Mac Mini built-in cooling is barely keeps CPU from throttling and CPU gets quite hot, 90+ C. That's unacceptable for me. I need CPU to keep boosting at 4.5+ GHz for a prolonged time and keeping CPU at 70 C max. Obvious improvement is to use external fans cooling Mac Mini case itself. Did someone used that setup and did it improve cooling situation?
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Mac Mini external cooling for CPU boost
- Thread starter v04bvs
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I moved my Mini on my desk (from between two displays, to left of both of them, so there's no disruption to the A/C for the mini) and it gets a lot less hot than before I moved it.
I just did a ridiculously simple stress test (`yes` command in a terminal) and Intel Power Gadget showed it consistently running at about 4.3GHz, and eventually it got up to around 90ºc, and stayed there.
I just did a ridiculously simple stress test (`yes` command in a terminal) and Intel Power Gadget showed it consistently running at about 4.3GHz, and eventually it got up to around 90ºc, and stayed there.
I have been using this laptop cooling pad with my Mini and TB3 NVMe boot drive. It is reasonably quiet for a fan and seems to move the air just enough to keep everything from getting warm. I decided getting the cooling mat after reading that some of the external NVMe drives can get pretty warm (and possibly throttle themselves). Since using the mat I have had no such issues.
Initially when using the mat, I was concerned that it wasn't pushing enough air. Now that I have had it for a little while, I see that the fans run just quick enough to push air to keep things cool without being too loud.
The X on the pad was a bonus in my eyes haha. Be warned, though, there is a blue light that does not shut off on this model and the fans are not adjustable that I can see (both of which is fine with me).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L36CEYU
Initially when using the mat, I was concerned that it wasn't pushing enough air. Now that I have had it for a little while, I see that the fans run just quick enough to push air to keep things cool without being too loud.
The X on the pad was a bonus in my eyes haha. Be warned, though, there is a blue light that does not shut off on this model and the fans are not adjustable that I can see (both of which is fine with me).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L36CEYU
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